122233 AR Linguistics Course (interactive) (2018S)

In its currently unique role as a global lingua franca, English is used between speakers of many different first languages. In such interactions, it is crucial that the interlocutors understand each other. But what constitutes international, mutual intelligibility? And how can we teach English pronunciation which is globally understood?

In this course we will start from a theoretical perspective, gaining a general overview of ELF as a research field and increasing our understanding of the factors which contribute to (international) intelligibility. In the second part of the course, we will then investigate ways to integrate these findings into educational practice, discussing suggestions from relevant literature and practically applying these to pronunciation tasks.

This course will be held in four blocked sessions. In preparation for each session, students will be given readings to complete, which will be discussed in class.